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Home  »  The Book of the Sonnet  »  Epes Sargent (1813–1880)

Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.

I. The Departure

Epes Sargent (1813–1880)

AGAIN thy winds are pealing in mine ear!

Again thy waves are flashing in my sight!

Thy memory-haunting tones again I hear,

As through the waves our vessel wings her flight!

On thy cerulean breast, now swelling high,

Again, thou broad Atlantic, am I cast!

Six years, with gathering speed, have glided by,

Since, an adventurous boy, I hailed thee last;

The sea-birds o’er me wheel, as if to greet

An old companion; on my naked brow

The sparkling foam-drops not unkindly beat;

Flows through my hair the freshening breeze; and now

The horizon’s ring enclasps me; and I stand

Gazing where fades from view, cloud-like, my fatherland!